Gunboat.



G. H. PEGRAM.

GUNBOAT.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 14. 1917.

Patented Oct. 15, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I Gf H. PEGRAM.

GUNBOAT.

APPLICATION FILED APR.

Patented Oct. 15, 1918..

Y lowing is a specification.

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEioE.l

GEORGE H. PEGRAM, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

GUNBOAT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI, GEORGE H. PEGRAM, a citizen of the United States, andresident of -New York city, county of New York, and State of New York,have invented an Improvement inrGunboats, of which the fol- My inventionrelates to gunboats for coast defense, and is designed to provide boatsof shallow draft having suitable motive power and capable of carryingtwo naval guns of large caliber and adapted.v to be otherwiseequippedwith guns of smallercaliber, torpedo tubes, etc., as founddesirable, the same providing a vessel of comparatively inexpensiveconstruction having a larger factor of safety against destruction thanis now usual in naval vessels.

' It is recognized that the present types of battleships and cruisershave proven very vulnerable to attack, especially by torpedoes, and theenormous financial loss in the destruction of a large battleship orcruiser, makes the division of the same gun Afire equipment of such aship into several separate units desirable. These large ships aremoreover relatively weak against the eXplosive force of a torpedo onaccount of their shape, more particularly as to their length, the forceof the explosive tending to break the ship amidships similar to theaction of a blowV on a lono` beam. VSuch ships are also liable toself-destruction by grounding, as the hull cannot be lifted at one pointwithout breaking the plates or opening the seam.

In embodying my invention in practical form, I provide the ship with acircular or oval shape in plan which may be formed with an internalbracing construction sulliciently strong that the ship may be lifted atany point of the circumference without injury, `because of the greatandjpracticallv uniform moment of resistance across the'diameter in anydirection. Instead of relying upon heavy armor (which is now readilypierced), I divide the boat into a great number of water-tightcompartments and provide for special 'immunity through the curved andinclined surfaces which tend to deflect shots, and by reason of the lowvisibility which may be enhanced by provision to sink the boat foraction to any desired degree, by flooding some of the compartments, tobe later-pumped out. By the radial -girder and other strong bracing ofrolled girder shapes and plate construction,the explosion of aSpecification of LettersA Patent. Patented Oct, 15, 1918, Applicationled April i4, l'cll?. Serial No. 161,943.

torpedo is resisted in all points of attack, andthe injury, ifinflicted, eectually localized. i

The boat is propelled by taking the water 1n at the bow and dischargingit at the stern through conduits or channels, the resistance of the bowwave and stern draft, which would be great in body of circular shapepropelledin the ordinary way, being thus reduced. Various knownpropelling appliances for moving water might be applied, but screwpropellers areshown for illustration and are perhaps the most effective.Two screw propellers are used, one on each side of the center of theboat and inclosed within the conduits of the Structure, each oneoperating on a draft conduit or tube eX- tending from thebow to thestern through whichwater .is propelled. These draft conduits or tubesare preferably tapered from near the middle to the ends in order tolessen friction; and in the tapered conduits are placed substantiallybalanced rudders for steering the boat. It is also obvious that the shipcan be steered by the relative operation of the two propellers inconjunction economy of space 1s desired.

VThe duplicating of parts for propelling l and steeringthe boat andtheirprotection from injury are special advantages ofthe design,

V'My improved coast defense ship constitutes a floating battery havingadequate Vmotivepower for self-propelling purposes, `steering means,andY preferably provided with the general equipment of a large battleshipV in so far as is necessary for the lesser armament and motivepower, such details however forming no part of my invention.

For-the purpose of illustrating `my invention, I have shown in theaccompanying drawings the embodiment thereof which is. at presentpreferred by me, since the same' is in form to give satisfactory andreliable results, but it is to be understood that the several featuresor structures of which my invention consists, can be variously arranged,organized and modified and that my invention is not limited to theprecise arrangement and organization of the structures herein shown anddescribed.

Referring to the drawings: Figure A1 shows a vertical longitudinal crosssection of the boat on the plane z-z of Fig. 2 3; Fig. 2 is a horizontalcross section onthe plane .fr-fc of Fig.' l; Fig. 8 is a similarhorizontal cross section on plane r/-g/ of Fig. l; and Fig. a is asectional plan of a modification.

A is the continuous steel plate bottom of the boat, and B is thecontinuous steel plate lower deck on the entire hull of the boat. Thebottom A and deck B are connected by a grillage of vertical plate webs aand riveted between them and forming a very strong bottom of girderconstruction. EX- tending across the hull and through the grillagebetween the bottom plates A and deck plates B, I provide two conduits ortubes H, H, arranged substantially parallel at a distance apart andrespectively upon opposite sides of the center.

These conduits H iiare or widen at the ends, as indicated; and saidconduits may be stiifened by the vertical plates 7L in said flared orwidened ends. At the ends these conduits are provided with balancedrudders J, J, said rudders to be operated in any suitable manner, as iscustomary in ship construction. These conduits at their middle portionsare preferably given an upward curve as at I in which the screwpropellers K are arranged, with their shafts extending obliquely upwardthrough suitable stuffing boXes and connected with engines L, which maybe-of any suitable construction. These propellers are preferably 4drivenby independent Diesel engines using crude oil fuel, requiring nofurnaces and reversible or having reverse gear m, but they may, ifdesired, be operated by turbines or electric turbine drive, in whichcases some of the outer lcompartments Z may be employed for boiler roomequipment. Such obvious vand wellknown appliances are not shown, asspecifically they form no part of my invention. rlfhe propellers K inthetwo conduits H, H, may be independently operated in the same or inopposite directions for the purpose of not only propelling the boat, butalso toassist in rapidly turning it.

Thegeneral design of the ship in plan is circular or oval, the outerwalls being vertical as at K. T hese may be Yreinforced with armor plateP, if so desiredyE 4is the upper or hurricane deck and is preferablycurved, rising to the center at which place the large turret G isfitted. The location of the turret is over the center of gravity of theboat. This hurricane deckis preferably provided With suiiicient armoredprotection e to resist aerial bombs.y Gis a conical plate bulkhead,extending from the hurricane deck near the sides of the hull to thelower deck B, thereby separating the inner compartments (Z, el', andouter compart- .ments Z of the hull. D is the mezzanine deck. F is thecitadel and Gr the gun turret having a suitable complement of guns gaccording to usual practice in battleship design. The compartment N maybe employed as a magazine.

The water-tight compartments l may be used for various purposes, somefor torpedo tubes S, others for machinery, stores and quarters for themen when not in action, and still others Vmay be fiooded to aidsubmergence. In the case of these latter, sea cocks T may be employed toadmit water and pumps t employed to discharge it, as re quired.

In respect to the compartments IV in the hull at the lbottom and formedby the grillage, the same may be connected in clusters by pipes w andemployed for storage of oil fuel and for water ballast, as may be desirable.

In Fig. l, the vessel is shown at its normal water line; but when inaction, the vessel may be submerged by admitting water into thecompartments until only approximately one half of the normal exposure ofside walls is provided; the extent of this submergencc may, however, bevaried to suit the conditions which have to be met.

Aside from the general construction of hull and equipment described,there may be employed a mast O of light and strong constructionpreferably carried upon and rotating with the turret G so as not tointerfere with the guns in action. This mast may be provided at itsupper end with an observatory or fighting top O whereby it constitutes amilitary mast. Atits top, this mast is provided with a flag staff Qwhich also acts as a support for the upper end of a wireless antennaeequipment It, the lower' end being connected with the deck of the ship-near its side. The cable -for connecting the said wireless antennae atthe top is attached to a swivel 'support r journaled on the upper end ofthe-flag staff, so that the mast may rotate with the turret and at alltimes maintain a vsuitable connection with the wireless antennae R.

It will'now be apparent that I Vhave devised a novel and usefulconstruction which embodies the features of advantage enumerated asdesirable, and while I have in the present instance shown ,and describedthe preferred embodiment thereof which has been found in practice togive lsatisfactory and reliable results, vit is to be understood that Ido not restrict myself to the details, as 4the same are susceptible ofmodifications in various particulars Without departing froml the spiritor scope of the invention.

partments of large size having inclined upper walls extending from theupper rportion ofthe outer wall and sloping inwardly and downwardly andterminating adjacent to the bottom of the central compartment, a floorextending from the wall of the central compartment to the middle of thesloping upper portions of the water-tight compartments a gun turretarranged over the central compartment above the center of gravity of theboat, and propelling devices at the lower part of the boat forpropelling it.

2. A gun boat having a circular shape in plan and with its bottomstrengthened by a grillage of vertical plates, the space above thebottom divided by an inverted conical wall extending from the centralportion of the bottom obliquely upward and terminating at the deckadjacent to the sides of the vessel to provide compartments on oppositesides of said inverted conical wall the space below the said conicalwall divided into a plurality of water-tight compartments by radialdivision walls, and means for admitting water to a plurality of saidlast mentioned compartments and ,discharging it therefrom, combined witha gun turret arranged abovethe deck and adjacent to a vertical linethrough the center of gravity of the boat.

3. A gunboat of substantially circular Y means arranged at the lowerpart of the boat and adjacent to its central portion, and a militarymast supported upon and rotating with the turret.

4.. A gunboat of substantially circular shape in plan havingan upwardlycurved upper deck and a substantially flat bottom of grillageconstruction to give great strength, the space between the deck andbottom being provided with an inverted conical partition, centralcompartments within the boundary of the conical partition and outercompartments between the space below the conical partition and betweenit and the sides and bottom of the boat said space being divided by aplurality of radial division walls to provide a great number of radialcompartments, and a gun turret arranged centrally above the innercompartments.

5. A gunboat having a substantially circular shape in plan and providedwith an inverted conical division partition forming inner and outercompartments and a plurality of radial division plates for dividing theouter compartment into a large number of radial compartments, and meansfor admitting water to a portion of the radial compartments anddischarging it therefrom at will, combined with a gun turret at itsmiddle upper portion and substantially over the center o gravity, andpropelling devices arranged at the lower part and protected by theradial compartments.

In testimony of which invention, I hereunto set my hand.

GEORGE H. PEGRAM. lVitnesses:

O. D. I-IoLMAN, JOI-IN W. MCCORMACK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

